The Triangle
by LinaBeal
Summary: Kensi and Deeks.  Eric and Abby.  Nate gone. Nell here.  So much has changed since Nate left.  But now he's back.  And all hell is about to break loose.  References to NCIS, Kensi/Deeks established.  T for safety
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Kensi looked out the windows into the Los Angeles sunlight. The sun was barely up and shades of rose and orange were streaking into the bullpen.

"Kensi?" Callen asked, and she snapped from her faze.

"What?"

"I asked you four times to get the Brandon case file." Had he really? She really hadn't been paying attention.

"Oh. Sorry," she said, pulling the manila folder from the stacks on her desk and handing it to him.

"Kensi, you okay?" Sam asked, drumming his fingers on his thigh as he usually did when he was concerned. Kensi chose to ignore that observation.

"I'm fine," she said, and waved him off, but as she waved her hand caught a glint of sunlight.

On her left hand was a beautiful silver ring with a flower-shaped diamond in the center surrounded by four tiny sapphires. Just seeing it glint on her finger made Kensi subconsciously smile as she admired it.

"Oh, she's thinking about her boy again," Sam commented, and she shot him an annoyed look. "Callen, why did we keep Kensi when we should have kept Deeks?"

"Because Deeks was already LAPD, and Kensi was already NCIS," Callen added. "It made sense to just send Deeks back to LAPD."

"Not when it means Kensi goes daydreamer on us all the time," Sam said.

"Be quiet both of you," Kensi snapped, and then her face softened into a smile.

"Okay, something needs to be done about her," Sam pointed out. "She's going to drive me insane."

"Agreed," said a voice behind Kensi, and she spun when she heard it. "Something needs to be done."

Her favorite guy in the world was standing behind her, sandy blond hair shining in the sunlight and his characteristic smirk on his face.

"Marty!" she yelled, and launched at him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close for a long, deep kiss. To Kensi he tasted delicious: a little bit like peppermint, a little bit like coffee, and a little bit like mustard.

"Hey gorgeous," he whispered in her ear.

"You came back. I missed you," she said. "I thought I wouldn't see you for another three days because of the undercover op."

"Caught the sleaze bag earlier than we thought, so I went home, took a shower-"

"Thank God," she teased, and he kissed her temple.

"-and thought I would come and say hi." He let go of one side of her waist so they could face Callen and Sam.

"Hey guys," Deeks said.

"Hey there, sunshine," Sam offered.

"Sunshine? Oh, my hair. Well, now that I'm back at PD I'm outside more, not cooped up in the office," Deeks added. "How've you been, Callen?"

"Fine. Your fiancée needs to get her brain screwed back on straight," Callen observed, and Kensi blushed.

"D'you hear that, Kensi? You need to stop thinking about me," Deeks teased.

"Not going to happen," Kensi said, and kissed him again.

"Miss Blye, Mr. Deeks," Hetty commented, making the two nearly jump. "I trust this is not a usual occurrence?"

"No, Hetty," Kensi replied, embarrassed. "Marty just finished with his UC op, so he came to say hi. I doubt any of you have seen him since he left NCIS in March."

"I did actually see Sam at one of our old cafes a couple weeks back," Deeks commented.

"You didn't say hi," Sam said, acting hurt.

"You were talking to a Russian arms dealer, Sam," Deeks added. "Figured you were working a case."

"Fair enough," Sam said.

A loud whistle sounded from the upstairs balcony. Everyone turned to see Eric holding his laptop and urging his crew upstairs. Callen and Sam were the first up, followed by Hetty, followed by Kensi's replacement partner and LAPD liaison (Deeks tried not to think that this guy was replacing him) Andy Cartwright, followed by Deeks and Kensi, holding hands.

Kensi had become quite comfortable in her life. She started dating Marty, then he proposed, which boomeranged him back to PD ops, which got her Cartwright, and now she was living in an apartment with Deeks and still working at NCIS. It was perfect.

When they all reached MTAC, Kensi was further reminded of the changes that had occurred in the span of a year. Eric's desk, which used to be crowded with tech devices and papers and formulas and codes and other miscellaneous items was now fully functioning and organized for all things work-related, and he had a corkboard above his computer that had over thirty pictures of Eric and Abby at various places during their cross-country nerd-off challenge.

That irritating fount of infinite wisdom known as Nell had appeared at his side, pointing out anomalies in the programming to Callen and Sam.

"So this is what's up," Eric said, pulling up photos and videos as he explained the information. It took all of the focus she had to keep on what Eric was saying and not the hand that was currently sitting on her ass.

"And so," Hetty said, "because of the major psychological problems with this case, one of our old teammates will be returning to assist us."

Kensi knew what that meant. She prayed she was wrong. And she failed, evidently, as she could feel a very tall presence behind her.

"Well isn't this adorable," Nate said from behind her, indicating Deeks' hand on her butt. Kensi used her left hand on Deeks' shoulder to turn and face him, but that seemed to make Nate's tone even more sarcastic than it already was. "A ring? Oh, and a beautiful one at that. This is just so precious, Kens." Kensi cringed at the nickname.

"Hi, Nate," she whispered.

* * *

(A/N): Hey y'all. I know, I'm on fire. two fics in two days. Well, don't get used to it. But enjoy it while you can. And d'you know how you can enjoy it most?

Read and Review: its more addicting than pistachios.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Hi, Nate."

Kensi was in shock- she had never expected him to come back.

Everyone mobbed Nate, asking him how he was and giving the giant "bro-hugs". She didn't have to feign happiness though, because Deeks was doing just as lousy a job.

Thank heavens for Hetty, though, because after twenty seconds of niceties she herded the team around to do this job and that, which allowed Kensi to leave the Ops Center.

* * *

"So that was Nate," Deeks said, on their way home after work, practically devoid of emotion.

"Yeah," was the only answer she could muster.

"Some how, I remembered him shorter."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Well, I mean, I knew he was a giant, but after two years without seeing him, I kind of forgot. I rationalized that there could have been no one that tall, and that I had just exaggerated his size. But he's tall."

"Nate just came back from the dead, practically, and you're commenting on how short he is?" Kensi really didn't know what to think about that.

"Well, it's either that or think about how jealous I am that he knew you before me." Deeks tried to laugh to lighten the tension that was suffocating the car.

Wrong move.

It hit Kensi like a well-placed blow to the gut- suddenly, she couldn't breathe. _How he knew _me, she thought. _That's a nice way to put _it. She turned her face to a blank slate and turned to look out the window.

"Kens," Deeks started, trying to reach out to her arm, but at the nickname she pulled away.

_Curl up, girlfriend_, Kensi thought. _Just curl up into your shell until he's gone_.

Deeks, realizing when he had hit a wall, put his hand back on the steering wheel and drove them home.

* * *

"Kensi, do you want something to drink?" Deeks asked her around nine. She had sat on that sectional couch since they got home.

It killed him the way she was acting. Kensi had wrapped herself in their big blanket on the couch when they got home, curled up under the soft folds of synthetic fabric, staring off into space. She was sitting on the sectional couch- it was a weird navy color, and whenever the team came over they pulled it apart for chairs to play cards. Or Pictionary. Or to watch sports when the guys got their way.

"Kens," he started, but when her shoulders stiffened he realized his mistake. He paused for her to relax again.

"Sweetie, I'm gonna go to sleep. I've got to be back at PD early tomorrow. Come on in when you want." He kissed the back of her curly head of hair and padded to the bedroom. He wasn't going to push her tonight.

* * *

(A/N): Hey. So I know that this was a super short chapter, but I wanted to get it up because of the serious fan alerting that I've been getting for this story. YOU ALL ROCK! But anyway, I know that what's next is gonna need to be a chapter by itself so I didn't want to lump it. Thanks for everything you guys.

BTW: Read & Review: It's more addicting than pistachios... :)


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Hey Kensi- can I talk to you for a minute?"

Kensi looked up from her magazine at her desk and shrugged. "I guess."

"Come on," he said, dragging her up the staircase and into the training room.

"What? You want to spar? Nate-"

Nate stopped her train of thought by leaning down to kiss her. _Quite passionately_, Kensi thought. _No one can say the guy isn't spontaneous. But I think random might be a better assessment_.

"Um, Nate?" She asked, shaken. What just happened?

"Sorry, Kensi. I've been trying not to do that for practically four years now. And now I'm good." He started to walk away, but Kensi grabbed his arm and pulled him back, standing on her tiptoes to kiss him again.

"Kensi?"

"You stupid, stupid psychologist. Why the hell haven't you done that before now?"

"Um…."

"I'll see you later," she said, and walked out of the training room. There was a fire in the pit of her stomach, and for some reason, she couldn't stop smiling. Maybe it had something to do with him kissing her. Or maybe it was her kissing him. She really didn't know.

* * *

Dom had been shot. He died. Her partner was killed. And she was never going to forget it.

He held her close. They just lay there for hours, lost in their thoughts after Kensi had come to his house that night in tears.

"I'm never going to let anything happen to you ever again."

Kensi sat up, shivering from the cold in Nate's apartment. "Nate, you're going to leave someday. The men in my life? They always leave. My dad left me for the next world, Dom did too. What makes you any different?"

"I'm not different. But I'm going to stay. I'm not better than Dom, or cleverer than your dad. But I am always, _always_ going to be here."

She turned and pecked him on the lips.

"I'm going to hold you to that, you know," she whispered.

"I know."

* * *

"Come on Kensi," Nate whined. "Why are you so adamant that I don't get a gun?"

They were in Kensi's car out on assignment. An assignment that Callen had told her to take Nate on. Kensi had to feign irritation, and she thought she pulled it off well.

"Because, Nate," she said. "Because if you get a gun, then Callen will be more willing to put you in the line of fire. And if that happens, I not only have to worry about Callen and Sam and me, I also have to worry about you. I am _not_ going to lose another guy, Nate."

"Okay. I would never push you." He leaned over and kissed her cheek lightly.

* * *

"He's gone?" Kensi was desolate.

_He lied_, she thought. _He said he would never leave, but he did anyway_.

"I'm afraid so, my dear," Hetty said, putting her small hand on Kensi's shoulder.

_This feeling in my chest. The total destruction of my insides_, Kensi thought. _My complete inability to do anything. That is what hurts right now._

_The burns I feel wherever I remember his touch. The scars I can feel on my heart. All of it. All of the pain. I am never going to forgive him for this_.

* * *

Kensi woke with a start. She was curled up in the giant blanket on the blue couch in her living room. It was pitch dark, which for Los Angeles was a feat, so Kensi knew it must be at least two in the morning.

She extricated herself from the blanket and padded into their bedroom. At the closing of the door, Deeks sat up, but she grabbed her pajamas and went into the bathroom. She got ready for bed, brushing her teeth and washing her face.

When she exited the bathroom, Deeks was still sitting up, looking at her intently. He lifted the covers to help her under them, but she shook her head and returned to the couch.

She couldn't lay there next to him when she still had this problem with Nate.

_Don't get me wrong_, Kensi thought to herself. _I love Marty Deeks with all my heart and all my soul and all my mind. But I can't just lay there and pretend like Nate didn't used to get my heart rate spiking. I've got to talk to Nate tomorrow and straighten this out. Because there is no way I can let this go on._

_

* * *

_(A/N): So I know you all wanted Nate to not screw up the Deeks/Kensi love-fest, but honestly, if she loved Nate like I feel like she did, him reappearing would cause some serious issues in her brain. So she has some flash-back dreams and comes to realizations. Please, no hate mail.

Read & Review: It's more addictive than pistachios.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

* * *

"Hey sweetheart," Deeks said, sneaking up behind her and wrapping his arms around her. "How are you?"

"Fine," she said, grabbing a bagel and her keys. "I'll make dinner tonight, okay? Unless I've got an assignment. You know the drill."

"Of course I know the drill. I knew the drill long before I knew you… like this," he said, kissing her neck and whispering in her ear.

"I've got to go," Kensi said, wriggling out of his arms and grabbing her bag.

"Hey," Deeks said, confused. When she didn't turn around or answer, he said it more indignantly. "Hey. Kensi. Kensi!"

Deeks had come up behind her and grabbed her arm. "Kensi. What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Kensi whispered, but even she didn't believe herself.

"Bull, Kensi. Bull. I know you. I know Kensi. And this girl that's been walking around since I got home from undercover? She's not Kensi."

Suddenly she was angry. Very angry. "How do you know I'm not Kensi? I could be the real Kensi, and the person you've been dating all this time isn't the real me! How do you know, Deeks?"

Deeks looked like she'd slapped him. Then she realized she hadn't called him Deeks for eight months, when they got engaged.

"I just know, Kensi!" Deeks shouted, letting go of her and walking away.

Kensi turned to look at him, his shoulders slouching with every step as he walked toward the big leather chair in their living room. He sat in it, putting his face in his palm and resting his elbows on his knees.

"I just know." This time it was quieter and calmer.

Seeing Deeks in such a defeated position unnerved Kensi, so she did what she always did. She ran.

* * *

"Hey there Kensi," Callen said as he walked into the bullpen that morning and smiling at Kensi. One look from Kensi wiped the grin off his face for fear of bodily harm.

"Don't worry, its not you," Andy said, looking up from his desk across the floor. "I got the same greeting. She's a regular ball of sunshine today."

"Noted," Called replied, sitting down at his desk.

"You will be happy to know that this little case will be wrapped in a pretty bow by tonight," Sam said. "I got LAPD working for backup when Callen and I go in today."

"Which means I'm going back to Boston tomorrow," said the tall presence behind Kensi. _Nate. Dammit._

"About time," Kensi said, tonelessly.

"Kensi, could I talk to you for a minute?" Nate asked.

"I was just about to ask you the same thing," Kensi countered, plastering an overly fake smile on her face in sacasm.

The minute the door closed in the training room, sound exploded.

"What the hell, NATE?"

"What?"

"You show up one day after you run off without a single trace two years ago and suddenly you expect everything to be exactly the same?"

"I didn't expect that!"

Yeah, ya did, Nate," Kensi shouted, her time in the southwest rearing its ugly head in both her temper and accent. "You walked in the Ops Center and your face glowered at the ring on my finger."

"I'm sorry I expected you to still be there for me."

"Really? 'Cause you don't sound sorry. You just sound pissed. Which you have NO RIGHT to be. I didn't leave you. I didn't leave with out a single trace in the middle of the night and just not show up to work that day and not even give Hetty a note for you and I _certainly_ didn't expect you to still be waiting for me when I got back after two years of AWOL. I didn't do that, Nate! That was _you_!"

Kensi took a deep breath because her blood was rushing and her heart was spiking and anger was pulsing through her body. Then she did what she had been waiting two years to do. She slapped him so hard across the face that his head twisted and a five-star started to appear on his cheek.

"_That_ was for leaving," Kensi said evenly. Then she slapped him across the other cheek, swiveling his head again. "_That_ was for the crap you have against Deeks-" then she kneed him in the crotch "-and _that_ was for me."

Nat crumbled, which was quite a feat considering how big he was, and Kensi turned and left the room, slamming the door behind her. She looked over the balcony to see Eric, Nell, Sam, Callen, and Andy all standing in the bullpen staring up at her. For some reason this made her even more angry, so, for the second time that day, Kensi bolted.

* * *

(A/N): Hey everybody. I am so so so so so so so so so so so sorry that it has taken me so long to update. I know that this story has a lot of people following it, which makes me feel even more guilty for taking forever.

Eric: Seriously, how hard is it to update?  
Nell: Yeah, come on! You're killing us here.  
Eric: Well, not technically. We're still alive.  
Nell: You know what I mean.  
ME: Guys, could you not?  
Eric: What?  
ME: You're giving me a headache. And you know what that means. It means that I won't write more.  
Eric: Okay, we're shutting up now.

Please read & review. & review, & review, &review. It's more addicting than pistachios.


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